Don't Touch...

Audrey looked around in shock. She could not believe her mother had even agreed to such a thing. Their life was perfect before and now she decided to add two more people to it? Absurd. She had barely known this man for two months and she was marrying him- had married him? It was unthinkable.

She crossed her arms over her chest. Had she completely forgotten about father? ‘We had never gotten married honey,’ she had said once. But that didn’t mean that he could be replaced. She said Rick gave her ‘a feeling I’ve never felt before’. This brought Audrey to the question of her father, what was he then? If he hadn’t given mother a ‘feeling’. Was he just some fling gone wrong? Impregnating her and then running away? Audrey knew better. Her father was stationed in Vietnam; he hadn’t been running away, he had been serving his country.

For a moment, she wished she could have gone with him; it had to have been better than this. He understood her need for order and rightness. She reached forward, grabbing the champagne glass from the place setting besides her. Janet didn’t drink anyway. She wouldn’t miss it. Audrey took a sip from the glass as she watched her mother dance with Rick to an Alicia Keys song she hadn’t heard before; she thought the DJ had said something about it being Unthinkable. How ironic.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, I think you’re a bit underage to be drinking that,”

Audrey twisted around in her seat, quickly placing the glass back on the table, to see a boy-like man-thing smirking at her. His suit was completely disheveled, the white shirt wrinkled, his boutonniere crooked, and a tie that was just barely hanging on his shoulder. She flinched at the sight of him, her eyes blinking hard. It hurt her to look at him too long; it was like staring at the sun or neon colors, wrong and blinding.

She recognized him from the ceremony. He had been Rick’s best man, though she couldn’t understand why. He had probably lost the rings. She thought about glaring at him, but this was a wedding and they were both a part of the wedding party so it would be impolite. Instead she lifted a hand in an ‘I don’t know’ gesture. He laughed. Audrey felt a pain coming between her eyes and stood up quickly to go find an aspirin, not to mention get away from that… thing. He had laughed at her.

The music stopped just as Audrey had reached the door and her mom started talking into a microphone. Her words came out sloppy and giggly, as they had all day. It was as if she were speaking under some type of haze, like her tongue was too thick and everything was funny. Like she was drunk. But she hadn’t had a drink all day.

“…think we’re crazy, but I knew I had to make him my baby.”

Audrey became nauseous. This was her mother; she wasn’t supposed to talk like this. She wasn’t supposed to make people her ‘baby’. The song they had just danced to played through Audrey’s mind. I was wondering maybe, could I make you my baby? If we do the unthinkable would it make us seem crazy?She was just quoting the song. Audrey’s teeth gnashed together and she fled the room. The front desk would have aspirin.

She fell back onto a couch in the lobby, bottled water in hand, and began to rub at a wrinkle in the silk dress she wore. She would need an iron to get it out, she knew, but it was irking her.

The lobby was completely empty except for the manager sitting behind the counter with a book in his hand; it looked to be some sort of romance novel. Audrey shivered, she hated those novels. Her mother read them and when Audrey had picked one up, to see what they were all about, she found it to be disgustingly graphic. It made her blush just thinking about the words used. But her mother, and apparently, the manager got completely engrossed in them.

Audrey twisted her wrist to stare at her watch. It wasn’t even nine yet. That meant she still had several hours to go until the reception was over. And then… then she supposed she was going home. Who knew what mother had planned anymore. With her luck, she would probably want Audrey and Rick’s son to stay together while they’re away on their honeymoon. So that the image of the ‘perfect family’ will come to life, in her mind; they weren’t going to be the Brady Bunch if that’s what she had planned.

She shucked the shoes from her feet and treaded back to the ballroom in her pantyhose. The lobby was too open, she felt revealed. Not that the ballroom was much better. There was always someone looking at her, she was at the head table, she was the Maid Of Honor. It was almost worse than the ceremony. Then people really were staring at her. Analyzing every step she took, the way she held her bouquet, the stray hairs, and the way the pink dress hung on her. It just made her look spindly, thin, and wiry.

In the ballroom the same song her mother and Rick had danced to was playing again, this time the DJ announced the name of it. Unthinkable by Alicia Keys. Audrey wasn’t sure whether to hate this song or love it. It was beautiful but described her horrid situation all too well. Her mother hadn’t thought, and yes, she did think they were crazy. But it wasn’t as if any of that mattered. It was over now. Audrey’s life would be changed until they died or divorced. She almost hoped for the divorce, as cruel as it was.

Audrey sat back down at the head table, a plate of food was in front of her and she inspected it closely. She had done a walkthrough of the kitchen once she got here, but if a hair sat anywhere on the food she would send it back. All kitchen staff was supposed to wash their hair every day, that didn’t mean they did it. It seemed to be clean.

She took her clutch from the table and pulled her hand sanitizer out along with her Wet Naps. Wiping down her silverware and water glass; then she squirted the hand sanitizer into her palm and looked around. Everyone was eating and talking as the music continued to blast throughout the room.

“Are you going to eat darling?” Mother asked.

“Yes,” replied Audrey, lifting her fork.

The meal was several courses and with each one Audrey was the last one to start and the last to finish. This chef was good; he seemed to have the same amount of attention to sanitization as she did. Audrey didn’t eat fast, and she didn’t eat slowly. She could feel guests curious gazes on her and it made her uncomfortable so she only ended up taking a few bites.

“May I have this dance?”

Audrey looked up; there he was again, the guy who had corrected her for sipping the champagne. She looked over at her mother who had shifted her focus when she had heard him speak; she was smiling and nodding encouragingly.

“Uhm…” said Audrey, her voice barely audible.

“She’d love to!” Exclaimed mother.

Audrey shot her a glare, to which she reciprocated with a hard look. She opened her clutch and pulled out a pair of white gloves. She was not going to be contaminated by this… boy.